Chandler Parsons, driving to the basket against Kodi Augustus in the first half, had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Gators.

GAINESVILLE — With the nation's second-leading shot blocker coming to town, conventional wisdom suggested undersized Florida would need everything it could get from its backcourt players to earn a win over Jarvis Varnado and Mississippi State.

But on a day when the Gators' guard duo of Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton could muster only a 12-of-23 outing, it was junior center Vernon Macklin and junior forward Chandler Parsons who carried the load.

Macklin had a career day, scoring on five of Florida's first seven second-half possessions, and Parsons had a double double to lead the Gators to a 69-62 win over Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon at the O'Connell Center.

Macklin and Parsons were a combined 15-of-22 from the field and scored 20 and 18 respectively, a career high for Macklin.

"Honestly, the double double means nothing to me, it's just the win was so huge," said Parsons, who had 12 rebounds. "I knew that I was going to have to rebound (Saturday), so I wasn't worried about how many, I just wanted to make sure I rebounded and not let my guy rebound."

Florida (17-6, 6-3 SEC) trailed Mississippi State (16-7, 4-4) by two at halftime but opened the second half by dominating the inside via Macklin. He scored 12 of Florida's first 14 second-half points, all inside the paint, including back-to-back dunks.

"We weren't really going at him (Varnado)," Macklin said. "A lot of the guards saw I was open and they passed the ball down low, and I decided to make a strong move."

Trailing 41-39, Florida went on a 16-4 run. The Bulldogs mounted a 7-0 run down the stretch to pull within 61-56 with 1:10 left. The Gators hit 8 of 10 free throws in the final minute.

The Gators outrebounded the Bulldogs, the second-best rebounding team in the SEC, 46-35. Varnado had 16 points, 13 rebounds and one block but shot 6-of-16.

"I think it's huge for us," UF coach Billy Donovan said of the win. " … Erving Walker less than 36 hours ago makes a game-winning shot, made a lot of big shots, Kenny Boynton made a couple plays coming down the stretch (in a win over Alabama), then all of a sudden offensively they don't play well. Now you can really enjoy and take pleasure at your teammates stepping up and being able to do some of that."